People

Proudly part of the Bite Back movement since the very start, Nika wrote our reports on school food and misleading packaging claims – and leads our Food Systems Accelerator programme. She previously worked on advocacy for organisations such as the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Movember. "I don't want to see family members tricked by 'health claims' into purchasing sugary products anymore," she says. "People should have the freedom to choose food that makes them feel good, not just what's cheapest and is advertised the most."

As our Senior Campaigns Manager, Hannah’s favourite moments come when she’s chatting with our Youth Activists and watching them hold their own against the giants as they speak truth to power. When she’s not exposing Big Food, Hannah volunteers on a farm, learning first-hand about the challenges of food production. She’s had enough of the deliberate exploitation of Big Food and questions: “How different would it be if healthy options were centre stage?”

Before joining Bite Back, James was CEO of Ambition Institute, helping grow it into the largest leadership development charity in education. "As a parent, I notice it when I take my kids round the supermarket," he says. "Shopping feels like a constant battle to pull them away from the unhealthy products targeted at them. Unhealthy options flood our streets, screens and schools: young people are so overwhelmed by the bombardment that they can't see or think of alternatives."

Arguably the best job in the house, Rachel works directly with our young activists as our Youth Development Lead. Rachel uses her experience mentoring and promoting life skills in various youth settings to manage the recruitment, development and delivery of our youth experience to more than 50 young people. “It feels like you can’t escape the constant messages telling you what you should crave. And the lack of ingredient transparency? Talk about frustrating!” she sighs.

Bringing a wealth of digital knowledge, Christin joined us from Raleigh International – where she helped young people commit to life-changing volunteering experiences. Away from work, she acts in independent stage and screen productions, and adores her five fur-babies – two rabbits, three guinea pigs, all named after gods. "It's insidious how big food companies manipulate us into buying their products while washing their hands of all responsibility," she says. "From Doritos-themed lip balm at Claires to the latest KFC collab at Primark, the commercialisation of junk food has reached new heights."

With 10 years experience as a youth worker, mentor and facilitator, Aaron has also written two books encouraging children to express themselves and be creative, touching on themes of diversity and inclusion. "It's disappointing and frustrating to see children as young as toddlers targeted by big food companies," he says. "My two-year-old daughter has colourful products packed with sugar and salt put in her eye-line: an intentional move to build a connection with her. This is manipulation at its worst."

Originally hailing from Zimbabwe, Emmanuel gained valuable experience in Africa providing free school meals for a local boys orphanage. Now based in Yorkshire and the Humber, the young activist maintains a passion for tackling food injustice – an excellent fit for Bite Back's drive for free school meals, as well as many other campaigns and events. Emmanuel loves this opportunity to make an impact in a real and viable way: "It's one of the greatest things I've ever been able to do."

Aspiring teacher Timi loves debating, art and songwriting, and enjoys discovering different cultures and languages. A keen human rights activist, the London-based campaigner was inspired to join Bite Back after first-hand experience of the struggle for kids from low-income families to access healthy, nutritious food: "My family went through a really tough period when I was younger," recalls Timi. "We were using food banks, and relied on free school meals to get through the day. It was our only guaranteed healthy nutritious meal."

At school, Anisah was limited by a lack of halal or non-dairy foods: "I was called a picky eater, but really I had my options taken away. To this day I can't bring myself to eat another jacket potato or plain pasta," says the London-based campaigner. An aspiring doctor, Anisah founded AI-powered mental health app Eleos – and has also created a successful hub to equip young people with the knowledge and resources to create their own social action projects.

Nutrition graduate Faheemah enjoys kicking out manipulation in our food culture as much as she enjoys kicking (for training purposes) outside of Bite Back. As our Communications Executive, she looks after our website and emails. "Children are left out of school meals because of bad eligibility criteria, yet a barrage of rubbish is paraded in front of them by big food companies," says Faheemah. "They need breathing space to grow, rather than worrying about food – a basic human right – and where their next meal is coming from."